


A New Life for a Perfectly Ordinary Human. (Hold)

by Somanoko



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:47:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22843522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somanoko/pseuds/Somanoko
Summary: What would happen if a fan of the series ended up in the world of Tokyo Ghoul. She needs to be careful what she says. Who she says it to. And deal with the consequences because she'd going to have to live and die with her choices!Hoping to make this a Uta/ Original Character story. But I'm terrible with romance stuff. So it might end up being mostly cute fluff and friendship. *SHRUG*
Relationships: Uta (Tokyo Ghoul)/Original Female Character(s), Uta (Tokyo Ghoul)/Reader
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	A New Life for a Perfectly Ordinary Human. (Hold)

**Author's Note:**

> Hoping to make this a Uta/ Original Character story. But I'm terrible with romance stuff. So it might end up being mostly cute fluff and friendship.  
> I have no one editing it. I've re-written it a few times with different off shooting ideas. This is one that I came up with so far that I enjoyed re-reading myself after writing it.  
> I wish i was good at adding details in stories but I hope that someone likes it anyway.
> 
> No idea if I''ll continue this. There's just a lack of Uta stories and it makes me sad.  
> (if someone sees this and wants to continue adding to it do let me know)

The first thing she was totally aware of was being cold. After that the deep bone hurt set in. With a huge effort a pair of blue-green eyes flickered open to stare at a dark alleyway. It was a skewed view as she lay; face pressed into the ground. Here she found herself among the trash and other forgotten things of society. 

As much as she'd readily admit that her room could become quite the mess and needed to be picked up a little bit; This was certainly not her bedroom. That had been the last place that she could remember being. She dragged her heavy arms up and pressed the palms of her hands against the ground. Shaking like a leaf the woman pushed herself upwards into a sitting position.  
Situation analysis was important. 

Kith took stock of her surroundings, and herself.  
She was Kith Fortuna. She was 26. Female. She was currently clad in light clothing. It was not really appropriate for this damp and chilly weather. A pair of shorts and flip flop sandals let her legs bare to the world and to the cold ground. There on her legs were a few scrapes, cuts and spots littering her pale skin where the concrete and small rocks pushed too hard against her frame and broke the skin. Picking stones from her palms and knees she continued to self examination. Thankfully these minor cuts seemed to be the majority of her injuries. Her torso was in better condition being covered with a tank top and a plaid, black,white and red flannel. The warmest of her clothing sadly. Her hands were the most beat up. Upon close examination she guessed that they looked like she'd been running, fallen and used her hands as a means to save herself from a nasty hit to the head. She momentarily glared down at her feet. Where on earth had she planned on running in flip flops though?

Kith determined that she was all together fine.  
She had no idea where she was or how'd she gotten here but she had to leave this alley to start to find that answer. If she could just find some people then she might be able to ask.

Forcing herself up to a standing position she swayed a bit. Her limbs were shaking. When she lifted her fingers in front of her she recognized the tremor as the shakes she got when hungry.  
With no food and no water access she wouldn't last long.  
On the ground Kith spotted her cellphone. The once spotless phone was scuffed. Nothing too major as most of the damages were to the case. She could thank her friends paranoid insistence that she get it covered before she used it everyday. He'd said "You'll be sorry if you don't! That thing is expensive!"

He'd been right.

She pressed a finger into the screens sensor and the phone unlocked with a click and a flood of light.  
Cell service here was absent. The phone popped up a message stating there was no valid Sim card available. With nothing to pop open the tray she read the time and clicked it off. Kith stuffed it into a pocket in her shorts. It was a little after 3pm according to her phone's clock.

That did not leave many hours of light considering how lost she was.

Trembling, cold, and anxious Kith started the first steps of a long journey. Peeking out from the alleyway she found herself in a large city with many bustling people. She was hit by a wall of smells and sound.  
Honking horns, smog, yelling, food, laughing. It smelled alive. The city was alive and breathing.  
Her eyes raised to a large tv screen propped up in the high rise buildings above.  
On it was reported a gruesome murder. Kith couldn't remember the last time news had reported on something this dark in this detail. She was use to the topic being looked over or put on the news in a manner that was 'delicate' so nobody would get offended.  
This news didn't shy away like that and Kith felt captivated by the bloody scene on the TV. She almost missed the reporter state that the culprits were presumably a ghoul.

"A ghoul?" Kith whispered to herself and looked around curiosity. Nobody seemed to react to either the odd statement or the gruesome scene on the big screen. Since when has this become normal? Accepted and looked over?  
And what the hell was a ghoul?  
The first thing that popped up in her mind was like a zombie. The descriptions of teeth marks on the body were enough to fuel that thought and cause her to shiver.

Kith tried to ask a few people the date and where she was before anyone stopped to talk to her. They assumed that she was a Foreigner. Not that she could deny such a thing. What she got was just this. It was March 19th and She was in district 3. Japan. Tokyo.  
The information left her stunned. The man who answered her gave her an odd look and mumbled something about foreigners before taking a hasty departure from her company.

This place was familiar. Too familiar. It hit her like a truck as she stood on a sidewalk looking up at another reported killing. One after another. Ghouls eating humans and the wards. 

She walked in a haze looking for anything to disprove her, but found nothing. The last straw snapped when she saw the report of a young man and woman crushed under steel beams. The boy lived. His name wasn't released but she knew.  
That was Ken Kaneki.  
This was that story she'd watch and read years back. When she'd been just out of high school. She'd had a job and money for herself for the first time. Her bestie had convinced her to watch the anime and she'd fallen in love with it.  
After that though she needed to read it. People said that the manga was even better.  
It hadn't failed her.  
It had been years since she'd even thought of this story she'd loved. But now, here it looked like it was unfolding around her.

She had to search but she did find a map in the subway to told her where she was. It would be fairly simple to get to the 20th ward. But then what? And she didn't have money. Not even for the fair to get to a safer ward.  
She also didn't remember which wards were safer than others. Anteiku was in the 20th ward. HySy ArtMask Studio was in the 4th district. Helter Skelter...that would be somewhere in there 14th ward. Was that a ghoul only bar though? Kith forgot, not all the details were stuck in her head like they use to be. Before she could have named off any of the wards and their placement.  
Now she needed a map and struggled to remember. She grabbed a paper map from the subway and brought it with her and began to walk.

Anteiku was her only chance for being even remotely safe. It was peaceful and many of the ghouls there didn't hunt like they did other places. They helped ghouls in need, but the old man might help her. A human.  
And she knew things.  
That could be dangerous but it also could give her leverage depending on how she used it and how she approached things.

She walked in as much of a beeline as she could towards 'safety'. She started to grasp the workings of the large city. Once in a while she'd spot a sigh that said 3rd ward. These signs swapped to 14th and she kept walking a steady even pace. When it started to get dark her heart hammered in her throat. Unable to stop moving because of dread she went on.

Her throat was patched and dry. Her hands shook from nerves and hunger. Paranoia ate at the back of her mind making her want to turn and look behind her. There wasn't enough nerve in her to do it though. If she looked back and saw a ghoul stalking her she'd run. And they'd chase.  
It would start a game she didn't want to play.

She didn't look. Not once.

As day broke she crossed from the 14th ward into the the 20th. Across that border she did finally look behind her.  
Her heart leapt into her mouth and stopped. Less than 20 feet from her, a short leap away was someone wearing a mask. A white elephant with red tusks had stopped still as she had. As if being still would keep him from being seen.

Ghoul and human staring each other down. She could see his eyes even from here. "...hello." She spoke softly, a small tremor in her voice gave away her fear. She turned around and continued her walk into the busy morning streets of the 20th ward.

❤️

She wanted a bath. Food. Water.  
At this point her stomach was outright screaming at her to get food. Anything! She'd found public water fountains and filled her stomach on that when she couldn't find a proper meal. It helped a little but it was temporary.

She asked about a coffee shop called Anteiku, and surprisingly she got a heartfelt answer almost right away. Much to her surprise it apparently was a much loved cafe around here even among humans.

What she wasn't prepared for was going inside. She still didn't have money or a plan. This had been her plan, shortsighted and decided upon under an incredible amount of stress. If she went in there and told them everything, she might be spilling her guts a little more literally than she wanted.

But now she stood in front of the cafe with an unsure expression on her face. She'd come here and stared at the cafe longing for a few days. Her stomach was in knots. A twisting horrible pain was consuming her gut but a human could go on for two weeks if need be. Hopefully she got up the nerve to in before then.  
Much to her shock and horror the door opened quickly to have a grumpy looking young lady pop her head out at her. "Are you coming in or are you going to gawk at the windows all day?"  
Touka. Had to be.  
Kith blinked and smiled a wary grin. "Sorry Ms. I was just-" Just what. Kith tried to think quickly. "..was wondering...wondering if you guys had WiFi…?" That was good. Kith thought. Smooth. Real smooth.  
Touka's eyes narrowed at her but she nodded and waved for Kith to come in "Yeah, we do but come in for that. Staring at the shop all day looks weird…" 

Kith didn't reply to that, maybe they had noticed her weird ass staring for the last few days. 

Her stomach growled but she simply shook her head when asked what coffee she wanted. "Sorry, I don't have any money. I..I was actually hoping to use the WiFi to look up jobs you see." 

Kith saw it immediately when she said that. Sympathy. Touka looked at her with such a sympathetic look that made Kith force a smile and chuckle. "It's cool though, I'm sure I'll find one soon yeah?"

"Touka, get me a coffee!" Kith turned her head to follow the direction of the voice. A light brown head of hair and glasses stared back her way, at Touka.  
"Get it yourself! You're supposed to be working!" Touka yelled aggressively at the man. That must be Nishiki. But Touka moved away from Kith and she pulled out her phone and tried to connect to the internet.  
She was happy to see that that at least seemed to work correctly. Her phone almost immediately jumped into updates. She watched in confusion and wonder as apps she'd known changed.  
Others showed errors. They didn't exist here. They could not open past their loading screens.

Unwilling to delete them she shoved them all into a single folder on a page a few swipes to the left. Hidden but still there as a reminder. If she ever got back maybe they would work again.

Her music was still there. Both the download and the app Spotify: although the icon did look slightly different. Her login failed though. All of them did.  
With a sigh she began the grueling task of creating accounts and setting up the phone.  
She stared unhappily at her useless PayPal, credit card and Bank apps. She had no money and this world wouldn't have a record of her even being alive.  
How would she prove who she was anywhere? Getting a job and pay would be hard for her without even an ID. Proper jobs always needed those types of paperwork.

A scraping noise made her jump out of her skin. Looking up she stared wide eyes at none other than Touka. "Wait I can't -"  
Kith was interrupted when Touka shook her head. "It's on the house. Mr.Yoshimura, the owner over there said so!" Kith followed Touka's eyeliner to the old man who ran the cafe. She raised a hand and smiled. "Maybe she should get your job Touka, she actually smiles." Kith cringed as Touka yelled back a retort back at Nishiki but smiled again at their little continued jabs at each other.

After hours of looking through job offers around she was dismayed to find the search difficult. Some were in dangerous wards or pretty far from Ward 20. 

"Ms. Touka- that's your name right?" Kith waved her over. "I'm sorry to take your time. Do you think I could speak with Mr. Yoshimura?"

She seemed to eye Kith up and down but nodded. "Sure, you can go ask him anything. He's right there." She laughed at Kith's anxious expression. "He won't bite!"

Kith waited for an opening when nobody was in the bar except for the ghoul employees. Once or twice she had spotted Kaneki bustle on by quickly. Touka bossing him here or there or making little jabs at him.  
To think they will have become a couple later. Amazing. 

She stood and walked over to the counter with the now empty offer cup on hand. "Mr. Yoshimura, sir?"

Kith kept her smile up although it was obviously nervous. "Can I speak to you in private?"

She stood in what left like an intimidating silence for a few heart stopping moments before the old man gave her such a gentle smile it could melt someone's heart. "Of course my dear! Come with me." He simply waved her to come around the counter into the door that lead back into a seating room. It was cozy and warm and currently unoccupied.  
On her way back she heard the front door jingle and muffled voices before the sitting room door was closed for privacy.

"So my dear how can I help?" He seated himself down on one couch and gestured at the other for her. She might as well make herself comfortable while she struggles to get this story out.

Kith took a breath and then sat herself down on the couch opposite of the 'non-killing owl'.  
No turning back now. All or nothing.

"Mr. Yoshimura it's a very long, complicated and hard to believe story...I hope that you listen to it all before you jump to any conclusions…"

-

He hadn't said anything further to her before she spilled everything. She tried to stay calm and tell him everything she could think of as important.  
"I woke up in an alleyway about three or four days ago. At first I had no idea where I was or how I'd gotten here. I live over 10k miles from here. I'm American. With no memory on how I got here."  
She paused but continued when he showed no signs of interrupting or questioning her.

"What's worse is that I...This isn't MY world. When I woke up I was confused because everything was different but familiar. It struck me why after I got some bearing. In my world this is a story. Ken Kaneki out there - that boy was the center of it. He's half ghoul. Created when Rize's organs were given to him to save his life...you're a ghoul too..As are all the other employees. I know this. And this cafe and everyone here only serves as more proof to me...but.."

She bowed her head unwilling to look up at him. "I came here, and told you all this because I need help. I know you help ghouls in need and I'm just human. But I'm here without a job, friends or family or even paperwork to prove who I am. Legally I don't exist here. Any money I had is gone and I have nowhere else to go. In this world this is the only place I knew…"

Kith kept her head bowed. "I know it's a lot of crazy I just spilled here. I've wandered around for days in a haze trying to process everything and work up the nerve to come here." Clenching her fists she added. "My options were slim. Either I come here and tell you what I can. And beg for help. Maybe I will die. But if I stay out on the streets alone I will die for sure.."

Kith held her breath as the room held deathly silence. Inwardly she begged the owl to answer her. Even if it was just to tell her his verdict that she needed to die.

"That is a very interesting tale…" Kith hazarded a glance upwards at the old man. That was a short and very vague response to such an 'interesting' tale. But when she looked she was fairly relieved to see he was smiling.  
"Very interesting. Tell me. How does the story go?"

Kith almost opened her mouth to spill it all. The whole story. How many people would be saved if she spoke up and told them everything!  
Maybe. But how many more would die? She lowered her eyes to the ground and shook her head from side to side. "I can't tell you. Things will work out. You probably shouldn’t think much of it. If I mess with too much then it may not..."

Even her being here might throw everything out of balance. “If there is something I can do to help make things easier - then I will. But if I save one person - warn another about an upcoming issue. And it kills twice as many people? Or if I save one person - and they end just dying the next day in some worse fashion.”

Kith looked up fully then to see the old man deep in thought. She waited for him to process it all. She expected doubt and maybe even absolute refusal to listen to her ‘nonsense’. But then he only nodded and asked her another question. "You said that you don't have ghouls in your world?"  
With a shake of her head she answered. "None sir. Cannibals maybe. But no ghouls." He nodded almost like he knew that would be her answer. "When you came in I was mistaken then. You smell just like us."

"Excuse...me?" Kith blinked utterly surprised.”I smell... Like a ghoul? Thats..” That made a shocking amount of sense. It explained why she hadn’t been outright attacked on her way here. Touka was kind of abrasive with her about standing outside and being a weirdo and never offered her food. Only coffee. “...that's why you agreed to speak with me…" Kith muttered more to herself than to the elderly ghoul. "I think I’d know If I was turned into a half-ghoul like Kaneki.."

“That’s not quite what I meant dear-But I think we’ll get to that.”

Kith jumped at the knock at the door behind her. "Come in, Yomo.."  
A silver haired Yomo opened the door and entered. “Yomo, come sit down for a minute. We have a lot to discuss.”

❤️

This situation didn’t feel ideal.  
Mr. Yoshimura had done the honor of retelling her whole story to Yomo - Kith added in anything he forgot to mention she thought was important.  
“That’s a lot to take in Sir.” Yomo looked at her from the side. She got the distinct feeling that he didn’t believe her.  
“The story started and follows Kaneki’s story starting when he was human - I think the night before Rize tried to eat him. It just follows him though. So it’s not like I know everybody's dirty secrets.” She shrugged. She knew quite a few though: but those were best kept secret if she wanted to stay safe. It was time to play her cards close to her chest.

“It may be best not to tell everyone about how much you do know.” Kith looked from the old man to Yomo. Sure that was one thing to say but how would she go about telling people that she - a human - knew about them. “Am I suppose to act like I don’t know you are all ghouls...I’d rather be more honest.”

“That’s a good way to get in trouble. I’ll ask around to see if I can find anybody who will hire you. With no paperwork it’s going to be hard…” Yomo stood up and started away. “Yomo, if you could also find a test for her RC cells.”

Rc cells. So called Red child cells because of their shape were cells in both ghouls and humans. Fake in her world - all just fiction. But now her world was a million miles away. Gone. Whatever the owls reason for wanting her cells tested it all came to the same. This was a different world where different laws applied.  
What family and friends she did have what were they thinking of now? 

“Ms. Kith? Kith?” She blinked out of another haze and looked at the old owl with wide eyes. “Sorry sir, I kind of spaced out…”

“For now I will inform the rest of the staff that you are staying in a spare bedroom. You seem to have a lot on your mind.” She’d already confided so much in him tonight. “Yeah. I’m still sorting through things. And just learned that I smell like a ghoul for some reason…” Her eyebrows furrowed.  
“Until you find another job you are welcome to help around the cafe in exchange for mostly room and board. If that’s alright?”

“Yes. That’s great, thank you!” The answer shot from her mouth quickly before the thought had even fully formed. That was more than acceptable. It was generous. Telling him turned out much better than she had any right to hope. 

Kith had slept well that night, for the first night in days. No cowering in a corner of an alleyway or hiding under stairwells. It was safe, warm and dry. 

She only had one pair of cloths. Touka had taken the news that she was staying fairly well. She had even offered some of her cloths - but Kith was just a little too tall to fit in to much. Thankfully they had a set of waitress cloths that did fit her perfectly and while she began work in the cafe she was able to have most of her cloths washed.

Maybe it was because of how she smelled, or many Mr. Yoshimura had told them to play nice but they treated her kindly. Equal. They didn’t hide their conversations when there were no other humans around. Ken had already gone and gotten his mask fitted Kith learned. Did that mean that Shuu Tsukiyama would soon to mess up everything? It was important development - Kith though she should let it happen. Maybe just advise he stay away. The others had done as much, but he wasn’t likely to listen.  
At least if did that she could say she tried.

Her shift was finally over and --- “Kith.” She turned to look at the man who called her over. Yomo, his even tone seemed to make him seem always kinda---annoyed? “Yes?”  
“I’m bringing Ken somewhere for training and then to meet some friends. I want you to come along. I had them pick up a test for you.”

She’d eaten since she’d spoken to Yoshimura. Human food. Just sandwiches and her stomach had accepted them. A little begrudgingly since she’d been well on her way to starvation when she’d arrived. It had not tasted bad however and she kept it down fairly easily. 

Her thoughts drifted as she watched Yomo beat up Ken. Well, it was supposed to be training but a beat down really was all it amounted to. No Kagune shown from either of them. She had been low-key excited to see one and disappointed when Yomo just ended up using his fasts instead. Then again if he’d done anything more the boy might have ended up dead. Kith wanted to ask so badly to see someone’s kagune- it was one thing to see someone on a screen of a show or read about it. But to see it in person…

Curiosity did trump some of her sadness of losing her whole world - it was the only thing that made it feel any better. She was hungry for more information but stuck in this limbo of not asking anything at all because she felt awkward and uncomfortable doing so. What if she accidently touched on personal topics or made someone angry…

Kith had been following along on autopilot when they came to where Yomo had wanted to take both her and Ken. Snapping out of it she stared up at the buzzing electric sign above the door. The door was open spilling warm light from the inside into the alleyway. She knew this place...Helter Skelter. Itori’s bar! That means that the friends he’d talked about where Itori and if she was right - Uta would be here as well.  
Her heart rate soared and she stopped still just short of the doorway. “Are you coming in or you just going to stand there.” 

“Hey Yomo, what have you told them?” Kith tried to look into the warm light, from behind Yomo she could hear Itori greeting the new half-ghoul. “Some of it. The basics. Itori got her hands on the tests for you. Come in, you're letting the moths in.”

Kith shuffled forward and into the bar. The door swung shut behind her closing her into a room with all the ghouls. “And you must be Kith! Is that right?” Itori’s energy immediately took her attention making her forget that her favorite character sat on a stool in the same bar. So bubbly. At the back of her head she knew that they had two sides to them. The ‘Clown’ version of Itori wasn’t so...fun.”

“Uh...y-yeah. Nice to meet you.” From the corner of her eye she looked at Ken who looked nearly as nervous as she felt. Hopefully her face wasn’t a mirror of his because she wanted to be able to keep some of her chill and a poker face. “Yomo said you came from a totally different world! So what’s it like!?”

Kith glanced at Yomo then at Itori. “Do you believe me? I was under the impression Yomo thought I was lying.” She lifted a brow at him.  
The woman just smiled and shrugged. “Well...if you're from another world what’s it like? No ghouls?”

The girl from the foreign land shook her head. “No ghouls. It’s just fiction there...a story.”  
She sighed and put her elbows on the table, chin placed in her upturned palms. “You know you're the first person to actually ask…” 

“It’s...I could go on a rant about it honestly. And not a good one. In short we’re on the brink of a 3rd world war, have major viruses circling the globe while world health organizations ignore it...and Australia was on fire, and then flooded. That’s just in the first couple months of the year…”

“It’s honestly probably a doomed world. We’re destroying a planet at an alarming rate and the older generations mock the young when we try to tell them it needs to change…” Kith exhaled and thought a bleak thought. Someone her age shouldn’t be this fed-up and tired with their whole world. Maybe this was an escape from her ordinary life. 

“I miss my friend and my dog though…I hope someone’s taking care of him...” Noticing how dark the mood had gotten in the bar she sat up quickly. “But I didn’t tell you that so we’d be all mopey! Yomo said you had some sort of test! Let's see it. What’s it do?”

The red head’s smile lit back up and she shuffled under the table for something. One looked like something like a weird pregnancy test. Except this had a capped needle on one side and a vial on the other. The other looked like an electric razor but Kith could see a scanner on the end instead of blades. “I had to get these from contacts who could get some CCG gear!” She popped a cap off the ‘pregnancy test’ to show the sharp needle. “Give me your arm and ---”  
Kith pulled back right away looking at the needle in horror. “I don’t really like needles.”  
“Come on! It’s just a little prick!”  
“That’s what she said.” Kith said on habit; her friend would have loved that joke. She was surprised as Itori threw back her head and laughed. To her side she could see Uta’s lips curved just slightly in a smile and Yomo on her other side sighed. He was used to this sort of humor. 

Distracted from her observations she suddenly felt a small jab in her arm and looked back to Itori who already collected her blood. On the other end of the test stick was a little vial Kith realized. Filled with her blood now like a bloated mosquito. “Hey!” “HA! Got it! Okay now it just needs a minute to read this. But it should give us a RC count on you!”

Kith put her arm to her mouth where blood leaked out a few dropless and glared at Itori from over it. She could taste a sweet coppery taste on her tongue and narrowed her eyes at Itori. “That was mean…”

The ghoul just stuck the tip of her tongue out at Kith and looked down at the test device. “Well while we wait for that! Kaneki!!!” Itori’s attention shifted to Ken’s issues and Kith waited and listened to them speak. It was a familiar scene. Her attention drifted from Yomo, Itori and Uta to gauge their reactions to his answers and the boy in general.

She listened quietly while Itori questioned him “What would you get if a human and a ghoul had a child.” A corpse of course.  
Well not always. But that was rare.

“Well now! The moment we’ve been waiting for! Let's see the big reveal!”  
Kith looked up to see Itori’s face. She watched in confusion and worry as the females face went from smiles all around to a confused expression. “Maybe it’s broken? I could try again…”

“What does it say?” Kith stood up on her knees on the stool trying to get an angle on the reading. “Itori?” Yomo questioned a little more firmly than Kith could manage. She turned the devices reading around with a pout to show them. “That’s impossible. It must be broken. It keeps doing this…”

Leaning in Kith could see it was flickering from 1 to ERROR repeatedly. “What...does that mean?”

“It’s a reading between 1 and ERROR RC cells. It probably doesn't know how to show zero cells. That should be impossible to be that low. Even normal human have close to 100-200 cells.” Yomo looked down at her, frowning. Itori shook the device and glared at it. “I'll try again...just in case. Kith will you ---”  
Despite the needle she was already placing her arm on the table to be poked again by the female ghoul. She wasn’t going to fight with the woman about a needle when this was actually looking fairly serious. A new batch of blood was drawn up into the machine and this time they all sat in silence as they waited. This time there was no intermission or chat in between.  
Again it came up 1-ERROR-1-ERROR-1-ERROR-1-ERROR-1-ERROR-1-ERROR- and it blinked back and forth from one to the other. “You have zero rc cells...not a single one. But you smell like us…” She picked up the other device and held it in front of Kith. “What’s that one do?” Kith asked uncertainty; staring over the top of the device at the female ghoul. “Not gonna zap me or anything is it?”

A little scanning light passed over her making her skin crawl. It lit up red and sounded an alarm. Then flashed green and back to red. “Error. Again. It keeps swapping.” She shook his device as she had the last one. Not that it seemed to help the reading as she tried it once again. “It...it can’t tell what you are....you’re something with an impossibly low RC count.”

“Well my world didn’t have ghouls at all...I’m not too surprised to find no RC cells in me. There were only humans in my world.”  
“But the machine isn’t reading that. If you were human that would show it…” Yomo stated, nodding at the machine. That was...true. If she was human why would it even try to read as anything else.

“Well what have you eaten since getting here?” Itori demanded, her face was actually pulled into a scowl. Startled Kith thought. “Ah...well. Mostly some sandwiches that Mr. Yoshimura gave me for free…Kinda still trying to find an official job for me.”

“Any meat?” The woman paused and added. “Any kind. I’m not just saying human meat.”  
Kith hesitated as she thought back over the time she’d been here. “No...? No. I don’t think so. I didn’t really feel like eating much to be honest.” What she had been eating so far would probably be considered almost entirely vegan. Not even any animal products.  
She’d had plain coffee with no milk or cream. Mostly eaten the little sandwiches which seem to have peanut butter and jam on them. In the mornings she’d grab a plain bagel and at some point grabbed a bag of chips.

“I don’t think I’ve eaten anything like that. Why?”

“I have a theory.” Kith looked up at the red head with an expression of worry. She looked much more like her ‘clown’ self than the happy giggly woman from when she entered. “For another time though. Here I forgot to grab you anything to drink. How old were you again? Just making sure.”  
“26.”  
“AH! Really? You don’t look like it! I thought you must have been Kaneki’s age! But that puts you much closer to our age! That’s delightful!” She stated pointing between herself, Yomo and Uta. A glass of wine was placed in front of her; plain red wine not the blood wine the ghouls drank.

Kith chuckled softly and nodded. “I suppose, Yeah.”

“So what did you do before you ended up here? I know you said your world is...well. That way but you must have done something to pass the time.”

“Good things that made life less shit you mean?” She chuckled, leaning her head on one hand and smiling. “Yeah. I had things like that. A friend. Only found one person who could put up with me I guess. My dog.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and went through some old photo’s before she found one. 

“Here he is.” Turning the phone around Itori leaned in, interested. Much to Kith’s amusement she had the very same reaction everyone did when she saw her dog. “That! That is NOT a dog. That’s gotta be some kind of bear! It looks like it could have eaten you!”

Laughing Kith held her stomach and handed the phone around for all to see. In the picture Kith lay down, leaning against a huge white dog. It was so big that the creature curled all the way around her body as she smiled up at the camera. The next picture showed him standing next to her; his shoulders even with her elbow. Catching her breath she finally spoke. “Ah he’d never. He’s a good boy. Perfectly gentle. With me at least. Sure scared away losers though. Pretty sure my landlord wanted to tell me to get rid of him but was too afraid I’d sick my dog on him.”  
Kith chuckled again remembering the man's expression when he’d first seen her dog.

“Should have seen his face. He looked horrified!” 

“Other than that I liked video games and anime I suppose. I worked in retail for the most part.” Her face twisted into a look of disgust. “Never again if I can help it. At least not at any big corporate store. That was the worst time of my life. I think I’d rather dig my own eyes out with a needle.”

“That’s...a rather strong opinion.”

“I hate people.” Kith said venomously before she realized what had come out of her mouth. “I mean…” She paused, hands over her mouth after her blurt. No taking it back now ---  
“Well...I guess people suck, you know…” She exhaled and relaxed a little. “And we; the people working that is, were not allowed to do anything but keep smiling and take any and all abuse.” 

Kith glanced over to Yomo and shrugged. He was one who would be most likely to talk to Yoshimura about what she said here. “…So far I don’t even mind helping at the cafe with cleaning. I suppose I don’t mind what job I have as long as the people act nice to me.”  
“Did you go to college?” Kaneki spoke up to her surprise. Shaking her head she replied. “Don’t know how it is here but that’s extremely expensive...I’d be in debt the rest of my life if I did that.”  
“Could your family have ---”  
She cut him off with a harsh laugh. “My family...forget about it. We were not on good terms.”  
His small ‘oh’ and silence made her feel almost bad for snapping like that. “Sorry Ken, I’m not snapping at you…”

“It’s okay. I didn’t realize.”

“ ‘nough about me.” She waved a hand. “Gimme a minute to think for a bit. Ken you can talk about your girlfriend or something.”

“Ooooh! Girlfriend?”  
Kith smiled listening to his sputtering excuses and smirked. Him and Touka would be really cute one day. What Kith could gather from tonight was one clear thing. Itori’s personality could switch in a moment's notice.

They stuck around for nearly another hour. Itori and Yomo turned their attention back on Ken. They spoke more about Rize, anything that the woman knew about the ghoul that unwillingly gave Ken his new organs.  
Kith on the other hand took the chance to try and speak with Uta. “You’re Uta. Sorry I didn’t really introduce myself. Itori kinda stole all my thunder with her questions as soon as I got in...”  
“Yeah I noticed. I thought it was strange that you smelled like us. Perhaps you are some kind of dormant ghoul…”  
“I don’t know. I’m not a ghoul expert here Uta. Anyway; even if I’m not, When I get a job I’m going to come to your shop! I hope that’s okay!”  
“You want a mask?” She thought it was her imagination but it was almost like his eyes light up for just a moment. “Of course I do! Even if I was ‘just’ human. The CCG don’t like humans who have ghoul friends. I’d need my face protected just as much as the ghouls around me. If they saw me, recognized me later and tracked me back to other people in the 20th ward. Or you, Yomo or Itori just because we hung out?” She shook her head gently. The mask was as much to protect herself as the people around her. “I do have ideas though for it. I hope you don’t mind. I’ll tell you when I get money for it!” His expressions were always blank and hard to read, but she thought that he seemed happy to agree.

“Okay you crazy kids! You two have work at the Cafe tomorrow don’t you?”  
“Oh no!” Kith watched as the half ghoul jumped out of his seat and practically ran to the door to leave. “Come on Ms. Kith. We need to go! We only have a few hours to sleep now!”

“I don’t knoooow.” Kith drawled and smirked. “I think I can function another day without sleep. Depends. Yomo are you taking us back? Much as I like you guys I’m pretty sure it’s not safe to be waltzing through the wards at night.”

“No. Do not walk at night alone.”  
“You say that like I’d planned on it! I’m sure If I wanted to commit suicide I could think of a better way!” Kith joked around and rolled her eyes. Jumping from the bar stool she swayed. “Oh there’s the alcohol.Thought it would never kick in.”  
“And definitely don’t walk at night drunk alone.”

“I’m drunk Yomo, not stupid!” She said pointing a finger up at him. The alcohol was kind of liberating; she felt braver. “But you didn’t answer my question Rennnjiiiii. Are you taking us back?” Kith watched in glee as the man’s face looked embarrassed and surprised as she practically purred his name at him. “Y-yes. I’m taking you back safely. Both of you. I’ll give you a ride.” Alcohol made her very brave!

“Thanks!~ Baiiii!” She waved to Uta and Itori as she moved towards the door and Kaneki.  
Honestly the rest of the night was a blur but she got back to her bed safe and sound at anteiku. Or she must have because that’s where she woke up the next morning with a splitting headache.  
-  
Without much choice she got up to get around for work. A coffee half way through the morning helped her raging headache. Even with it though she smiled politely at everyone who came in and happily cheered her hellos and goodbyes. It was a habit carried over from her retail days - but right now in Anteiku they felt more genuine than they had before.

And so went many of her days. Two more weeks passed and she was getting into a pattern. Get up. Work the day cleaning at the cafe and go with Ken and Yomo to watch them train. It was so strange to see for her that everything here moved so slowly. Something that happened day after day in the anime. Real life actually happened so much slower being weeks apart. Ken had gotten his mask mailed to him to Anteiku and had been kind of weird about trying it on. Kith tried to reassure him that it suited him somehow.

It was on one of her breaks she took that she noticed the little girl Hinami yelling at her mother about wanting to see her father. At first Kith thought nothing of it but a flashback to what she knew about this world brought her back. Standing quickly she sprinted back to Mr. Yoshimura’s office and knocked. “Sir. I have something important to talk to you about!”

The door opened to Yomo looking down at her. “Hey Yomo.”  
She peeked past him to your ‘boss’. “There’s something that maybe we could change...someone that doesn't have to die.” She was not surprised by how readily they let her into the room to speak. Or how intently they listened to her. What was quite a surprise was how quickly they were ready to act when she told them everything. “The doves are going to use Hinami’s father scent to lure her away into a trap. If you don’t keep them inside when the doves are in the area...her mother will protect her and die. It’s what happened in the story at home.”

“I couldn’t do anything about her father...I’m sorry. I don’t even really know where it was that he died.” She had been afraid that they’d blame her for his death, but when no judgment came she just stared in amazement as the old man took control of the situation.  
“Don’t worry about this Ms. Kith. We will take care of this. Yomo, please get Ms. Fueguchi to come in here. I need to speak to her.”

“We will keep them away from here and safe. Please. Don’t alarm anybody else. Head out and go back to what you were doing.” Kith was about to argue but then what could she do? Get in the way of ghouls who actually had power?  
This could be solved by keeping them inside somewhere or outside of Ward 20 where they were being hunted. “Okay, just be aware they are currently looking for a mother and a little girl because of her drawings they sent to her father.”

Back out in the cafe she looked over to the mother she wanted to save. Speaking softly to Touka and Yomo. Yomo ushered the woman back to Yoshimura and out of the way of harm.  
Kith stayed tense for days after that. What if they didn’t succeed in saving the girls mother? What if they did and somehow it changed everything? What if they saved her today only for her to die in a year? 

Shaking her head and concentrating she went back to work.  
There was no sparring practice tonight.  
Nor the night after. Kith went about her days tensed and ready for the hammer to drop. For it to all fall apart. To hear that the two had died and her effort had been for nothing. But as almost a week passed again without hearing anything she was convinced that it had worked out.  
She was being paid for her time fairly well for someone who wasn’t officially an employee. She thought that she might actually be getting close to having enough for a mask. Regrettably though there were other things she needed to buy. Some clothes for one.

“Hey Touka.” Kith waved her over and smiled. “Can you do me a favor. Look outside your balcony window every night for a bird.”  
“What? I hate birds!”  
“I know. I know. But please. I know it doesn't make much sense…Ugh I just heard someone lost theirs while they were in the area. Could you check every night? They like to roost up high so.”  
Kith watched Touka walk away. Touka thought she was some kind of crazy now - just wait till she actually finds Hetare outside her window. “Just what will she think of me then…”

-

She made sure to eat meat. Itori had been weird about it when she’d visited Helter Skelter but figured that she could at least try it. Not that she’d been specifically avoiding meat. It was just more expensive to get than simply relying on what was given to her. Admittedly now that she had it it would be much better than what she’d been eating. Her mouth watered as she watched it cook over the little stove in the back. After it was done she’d brought it back with her to her room and sat down to eat the steak. Wonderfully seared in the outside and pink and bloody in the center - it was by far the best tasting thing she’d had the entire time she’d been here.

Quite frankly the idea of going back to bagels and chips made her grimace. It was hard to believe that she’d been eating nothing but those things.

After dinner she hung out around the cafe with a coffee and chatted with the people who worked there. It was after closing so she was surprised when she heard the front door open and people come in. “Oh! Itori, Uta! Fancy seeing you here!” She made room - moving so there was room next to Yomo their friend. Itori grinned and moved to sit next to her and Uta sat down next to Yomo. “So! You do what I asked?”  
“You mean your weird ass argument I should eat meat?”  
“Yes! Come on it’s not like I asked you to eat people!”

Kith laughed and shook her head. “Yeah I had steak for dinner. It’s not like I was avoiding meat you know. It’s just more expensive to get. I really enjoy meat....”  
“That’s what she said!~”  
Kith couldn’t help herself but to snicker at the lame “that’s what she said joke’. Even if it really was the worst kind of humor from middle school she had to laugh. It reminded her so much of her school years and her friends from back then. “Yeah yeah...you're gonna stab me now?” Kith flinched as the woman brought out the little syringe thing just as she asked.  
“Yeah! Hold still!”

She hissed as the woman punched the needle into her arm again and took more blood. Kith rubbed her arm and looked over to Yoshimura as he and the rest of them looked as the red head did this to her. “I assume this is the test that Yomo was telling me about.”

“Yeah. You know I just ate it not to long ago it probably didn’t---”

“Oh it did something! Look at this!” The woman held the test up to her eyes where she watched in amazed horror as the numbers were jumping up exponentially. “What...is happening?”

“Your RC cells are multiplying!”

“Multiplying...how...fast?” Kith asked, worried to hear the answer. The test was saying 5. 10. 20. Each new time she looked the number had doubled until she couldn’t drag her eyes away from it. “In just this sample it’s doubling every minute!”

“Well when will it stop!?” Kith questioned urgently. An urgency seemed lost on Itori as she just stared at Kith with confusion. “I hadn’t thought of that.” The ghoul pulled out the other scanner and scanned Kith again. This time...it immediately set off an alarm in the scanner and showed a solid red light. “I think that settles that…”

Just what on earth was she suppose to do with this information?  
Kith just watched in fascination and horror as the numbers in the test tube continued to double; knowing that inside her own body the same thing was likely happening made her stomach turn.


End file.
